8.10.2013

Travel and Diabetes

We discovered that while Katie *can* take part in all the eating out - going out of town entails...she probably shouldn't.  She's been running high ALL weekend.  We had gone up to MI to see Kev and spend some quality time together as a family.  She wasn't working so was less active but the meals we did eat out- Quaker Steak and Lube (burgers and fries and pretzels) and El Barrio (awesome, awesome mexican food in Grand Rapids!) and then Pizza at Pepperino's in downtown Grand Rapids, caused her blood sugars to raise up to over 300.

She was SO high she had trace amounts of ketones in her urine.  Yes I had to test...glad I knew how after animal phys class (We did this in lab one time).  I had her drink lots of water as when we first started- the color was a dark yellow.  By about two hours later it was more clear and the ketones were almost gone.  But she was almost as fuzzy as she is when she's low.  Thank goodness for my friend Mary.  Her son has diabetes and she has been such a huge help.  I can't even explain y'all how much it means to know that I have someone I can text to get answers.  We ended up giving her 1 extra unit of insulin after her blood sugar kept rising at 370.  We gave it with protein and that finally got her to start coming down.  So scary when it was happening.  She couldn't even think clearly at all.  We were told that diabetics are frequently arrested for appearing drunk or high.  I believe it.  Her lows and highs are like this.  It's probably why her so-called friends in HS believed the worst about her rather than tell us she was sleeping through classes, weaving and looking crazy.  She might have been diagnosed sooner if people had.

Our endo uses mychart which is AWESOME- because we can email them anytime and they will get back to us.  Plus we can page the doctor.  I just hate doing it when it seems so easy to figure things out.  But we always tell them what we tried.

When you travel- take triple the amount of everything.  It's worse than a baby traveling.  My one suitcase travel packing was tossed out the window.  We had to bring:

-extra dexcom insertion needle (in case we needed to do a site change)
-waterproof tape
-extra needles, test strips, lancets, insulin- cooler and ice for the unopened insulin
-extra snacks.  Glucose tablets for low blood sugar, hard candies, icing (great for lows), ketone strips, sharps container, carb guide, instructions for ketone strips, doctor numbers glucagon.
-food for the room for snacks including protein, fruit and veggies
and so on.  It was like bringing an extra suitcase...traveling light is a thing of the past.

I sure hope she starts to level off soon.  Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

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